Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (and me) tomorrow, April 4th, for 404 Day — a nationwide call to action against internet censorship in libraries and schools. The EFF has partnered with the MIT Center for Civic Media and the National Coalition Against Censorship to provide a digital teach-in which I will be a part of.

The digital teach-in will be from noon-1pm PST (3-4pm EST). Speakers include yours truly as well as Deborah Caldwell-Stone (Director of Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association) and Chris Peterson (MIT’s Center for Civic Media and the National Coalition Against Censorship). EFF’s April Glaser is moderating. We’ll discuss banned websites, filtering software, legal challenges, the Children’s Internet Protection Act, and more. You’ll be able to find a link to the event, a Google Hangout, on EFF’s site prior to the event. The teach-in has its own Google+ event page up now.

It’s rare that I get to speak about something that reminds me of why I became a librarian. Talking about censorship does just that. For more on 404 Day, see EFF’s blog post. And if you yourself want to blog tomorrow for 404 Day, sharing your own stories and thoughts, email [email protected] to spread the word about your post.

Earlier this week, California Governor Jerry Brown appointed Greg Lucas as the new California State Librarian. The appointment requires state senate confirmation, which has not happened yet.

Lucas is not a librarian, nor has he ever (per information readily available online) worked in a library, volunteered for a library, served on a library Board or Commission, or…well…had any involvement with libraries at all. So what has Lucas done? He was a political reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and more recently has been a political blogger.

My Own Reaction

My initial response on social media was in line with that of many librarians:

“California’s new State Librarian isn’t a librarian. What in the hell, governor?”

After the initial outcry, there was a backlash of people telling those of us with grumpy faces to hold on and stay positive. The positive push included things like: Let’s be welcoming, assume he’s amazing and will do great things for us because he’s politically connected, and not criticize the choice–at least not publicly.

I stopped for a moment and reconsidered my position. Could a political blogger be a good State Librarian? Yes, of course he could. I don’t have a positive or negative impression of Mr. Lucas because I know next to nothing about him. Here’s what I do know: he’s 55, has a Bachelor’s in Communications from Stanford and a Masters in Professional Writing from USC. His grandfather is former Supreme Court Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas. His wife is Donna Lucas, who runs a political public relations firm that has historically worked with conservatives. I know that he signs off most of his Tweets with “xoxox,” and Tweeted on February 24th (his second-to-last Tweet before his appointment): “Never let academics stand in the way of your education, supposedly said Mark Twain.” Right. OK. Perhaps not the best thing to say right before you walk the gauntlet of a large state’s worth of librarians.

We have heard nothing from Lucas or the Governor’s office about what qualifications, experience, or personal qualities Lucas possesses that made Brown tap him for this appointment. No library experience and no experience running a large, complex organization spells trouble to me as a hiring manager. This, even more than his lack of an MLIS, is what bothers me.

19302. The division shall be in charge of a chief who shall be a technically trained librarian and shall be known as the “State Librarian.”

Apparently the Governor’s office doesn’t think that’s a problem. Following up on the super brief press release on the appointment and the immediate biblioshitstorm that followed, Evan Westrup (spokesperson for the Governor’s office) said Lucas’s appointment was in keeping with the law and that Lucas “will be pursuing additional technical training through San Jose State University’s library science program in the months ahead.”

Even if you read “technically trained librarian” as not necessarily meaning an MLIS, how exactly is Lucas a technically trained librarian, and/or how can he become one in short order while simultaneously serving as, and getting paid as, the State Librarian? And what precisely will he be doing at SJSU? Getting his MLIS? Taking only an introductory class? There’s a wide swath of possibilities here, ranging from encouraging to disturbing.

Any negative feelings I have about this appointment are not directed at Lucas whatsoever. They are directed at Brown for either a lack of understanding of the operations of the State Library and the position of State Librarian or for a lack of explaining the magical rainbows and unicorns thought process in his head that lead him to this decision.

In my humble opinion the State Librarian should be a librarian.

And being welcoming to Lucas is not mutually exclusive with questioning his suitability for the post, lacking any substantial information from either him or the Governor’s office.

California Librarians’ Reactions

In the days since the initial announcement, California librarian social media and listservs have been aflutter with questions, arguments, concerns, and cheerleaders for Lucas’s appointment. Many people talked about the century-plus length of time it’s been since California’s state librarian was not a librarian (the last one was James L. Gillis, appointed in 1899). Many brought up the advantages of having a Sacramento insider as the mouthpiece for California libraries. There has been discussion that an unknown number of California librarians were contacted by the Governor’s office regarding the position, and anecdotally at least, they turned down the position.

The most productive contribution came from the folks encouraging those stimulated to action by the appointment to also be advocates for three key library legislative issues in California right now–a statewide library broadband initiative, a bill to lower the voter threshold for bond and special taxes for libraries, and a bill for a new library construction bond. Note: I have written a multitude of letters on all three and asked my Board of Trustees, Friends of the Library, and Library Foundation Board members to do the same.

California Library Association’s Reaction

Individual librarian opinion aside, I was waiting to hear what the California Library Association had to say. I should stop for a moment and note that I am not a CLA member, nor is my library an institutional member. The reasons for that are long and involved and aren’t totally relevant here. But, as a California librarian and library director, I feel that CLA’s response speaks for me in public, for better or worse.

CLA response was mixed and confusing. We saw the first CLA response in an article published on March 25th:

Rosario Garza, the executive director of the California Library Assn., also said the post should be filled by a librarian. “It’s a complex world and we are facing a lot of challenges,” Garza said.

The following day, March 26th, Deborah Doyle, the President of CLA, sent a message out on CALIX, CLA’s listserv. From that message [excerpts]:

The CLA Board unanimously welcomes a new State Librarian.

While the appointment of Mr. Lucas was unexpected, CLA has had a tradition of working with many State Librarians during its 129-year history and will, we hope, continue to collaborate with the State Library. Mr. Lucas may not have traditional librarian training, but his relationships with California state leaders, as a political writer/reporter/blogger and long-time Sacramento resident, will be of great importance to the work ahead. How fortunate that the State Library staff has broad and deep knowledge of that work.

Now, more than ever, we should be building and strengthening relationships.

What is CLA’s position? It sounds like, at least privately among California library staff CLA is saying “We welcome and endorse the new State Librarian without questions–so be nice, y’all.” And publicly, in one brief statement CLA is saying “Hey now, the State Librarian should actually be a librarian.” Methinks there are some internal communication breakdowns occurring within CLA. I hope CLA puts out a lengthier and unified public statement soon.

My Final Thoughts

I am disturbed by Brown’s appointment, but will reserve my final judgement until we know more about Lucas and hear directly from him. Hopefully that will happen before his confirmation hearing.

I am equally disturbed that CLA made such a broad statement of acceptance/endorsement without asking the many questions that its members (and non-members) are asking. What qualifications and qualities does Lucas have that will make him a successful State Librarian? Why was he interested in this position? Does he have any positions on libraries (public, school, academic, special) and the many challenges we’ve faced especially in recent years of budget cuts? What does he plan to do to increase his understanding of the issues facing libraries throughout the state?

As a librarian it’s my job to advocate for my community. While the State Library does not play into the day to day operations of my library, it affects many big picture issues that affect those operations: state funding, legislative support, grants, and more. I, for one, am not yet convinced that this appointee is good for my community. I sincerely hope that he is–that he’s the best damned State Librarian we’ve ever seen. But until he is confirmed, I encourage my colleagues in positions of power within the state association and state government to ask the questions that aren’t being asked. Our California communities deserve no less.

Our library is relatively small and we don’t have the time or staff brain bandwidth or expertise to design, maintain, troubleshoot, and host a website. We were happy to hire Influx to do this work for us. For very little money a whole lot of pressure and stress has been relieved from our collective library brain.

So far, we’ve gotten some really fabulous feedback from library users, stakeholders, and city government officials. Take a look, let us know what you think, and check out Influx if you’re looking for a quick, customizable (and yet still ready out-of-the box) website solution!

Despite my reputation for being outspoken, I’ve let several library-world blow-ups fly by of late without comment. I’ve gotten dozens of requests to write about these issues and have said no. I’ll tell you what I think if you ask, but I’ve stayed out of the fray intentionally.

Why so quiet? Over the years, multiple significant others have said to me: “When you get quiet, that’s when I know something’s really wrong.” They’re absolutely right. It’s not petulant pouting; it’s me afraid that if I open my mouth I will: a) scream, b) cry, c) berate you so hard you’ll feel like you just got beaten with a broom handle by Frank Underwood.

In short, me being quiet means that I’m so beyond mad about something that I don’t even want to talk about it yet because I cannot do so in a productive manner. Remember that video of me getting all huffy about Amazon and OverDrive’s anti-privacy partnership? That took me over a month of mental processing and about 20 takes to calm down enough to record. And even then, I still get all “RAWR – kill all of the things!” during the video.

Though I’ve been quiet about a lot lately, there are two large-ish issues I’d like to bring up — particularly why I haven’t written about them. It’s the same damn reason in both cases. I’m disappointed in the members of our profession who choose to express themselves in unproductive, negative, and hostile ways.

My reaction: I was happy that ALA codified something that was already, more or less, included in various other long-standing statements of conduct, values, and ethics. My blog post on professional harassment was part of a long catalog of pieces that apparently started the avalanche of opinion that such a code is needed by ALA. I was happy that something I’d written had helped contribute to a large-scale positive outcome. Is the code perfect? Of course not. It, like everything else on this blasted planet, is a living and changeable beast. Something really good, however, is much better than nothing at all.

The library-world reaction: I expected a little bit of pushback on this from people in denial of the problem, but I did not expect the infantile backlash that happened. People said that the code could curb freedom of speech. People said that it was addressing a problem that didn’t really exist. People said that only a few women were harassed, so why create a code to deal with only a few victims. Oh yeah, and all of these “people” saying this stuff? People from the librarian profession. I’m not even going to link to the many, many reactions on all sides to the code because, well, because of what I write next.

My reaction to that reaction: Disappointed Sarah is disappointed in her peers. I am disappointed in the pettiness of some in our profession, the blinders many people have on to the diverse experiences of others, and the desire of some to tear anything and everything down–no matter how much good it can do–because, in their minds, it’s not perfect. I am also beyond raging that people would doubt the word of many, many people who have been harassed at conferences. We’re talking about a lot of people here, a lot of experiences, and a lot of anger and grief that could be avoided in part if we had a code of conduct to deal with such situations. Will the code prevent all potential harassment or assault? No, of course not. No written document can. But it can deter that behavior, and for that I’m glad. I’m glad the code exists. The haters can go sit in a corner and wax poetic about their delusional reality where no one is harassed and everyone is equal all the time, and leave the rest of us to deal with reality–dirty and imperfect as it is.

The library-world reaction: Not every demographic was fairly represented in that small sampling of photos! Too many people looked this way, or that way! Not enough people looked this other way! I hate this particular person who was featured! I hate this person, therefore the value of the entire photo essay is negated! I wasn’t photographed, therefore this is stupid! Why do we need photographs to represent a profession that is so pure and idealistic that we should be able to represent ourselves through theremin music and laser shows alone!

My reaction to that reaction: Fucking Hell. Some people will take every good thing and make it look like a steaming pile of rat dung. This was popular media coverage of our profession, which we will mostly agree is underappreciated and underrepresented. The public reaction to it was good, for goodness sake! Our reaction to ourselves, however, was shameful. To everyone who posted hateful comments about the way that the featured librarians looked, what they were wearing, or their gender or ethnicity–Shame on you. Instead of tearing something down, try building it up. Offer productive feedback on how to extend the project and make it more in keeping with what you personally think is important. But don’t destroy a photographer with pure intentions (who even wrote a follow-up piece about the Twilight Zone-esque backlash). Don’t destroy subjects who love our profession (even though you may not like them all as individuals) and who are willing to put themselves out there in the public spotlight to raise awareness about what we do.

In short, I didn’t want to write about these because anything I was infuriated with my fellow librarians. And besides, anything I wanted to say was already being said by others. But I come away from these two incidents with a mantra that a former manager of mine used to repeat to us at project meetings: “You can criticize something, but do so politely and offer solutions for how to make it better–don’t just tear it down.”

So, all of you librarians out there: you may have valid points and you may have good arguments about why something is imperfect. But be professional enough and smart enough to do more than tear something down–contribute to a solution. Until you’re able to do that, shut your talking holes. You’re hurting my ears and making me angry. And you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry. [which, incidentally, is why I choose not to write when I’m angry–see the connection?]

I’m going to go over here into the corner and resume my quietness now, and try to make the world of my own library and community a better place.

I’ve been getting a weird rash of people asking what conferences I’ll be at over the next several months (no…I’m not going to ALA Midwinter or Computers in Libraries). But I am going physically (or virtually) to some other places coming up. Come say hi if you’re there too!

March 13-15, 2014 – Public Library Association Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana [“Filtering out Internet Censorship: Advocacy, Professional Ethics, and the Law” panel and “So You Want to Be a Director: Fleas, Death Threats, Budget Cuts, and Prison Wardens”]

June 26-July 1, 2014 – American Library Association Annual Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada [“Stepping into the Director Role: Preparing for the Part” panel and “Technology Priorities for the New Library Reality”]

I never thought that Librarian in Black would be active a decade and more than 4,500 posts later.

10 years in Internet time is forever. 10 years ago:

I was only two years out of library school and had long blonde hair (OMG)

Friendster was the bomb

MySpace was just starting to be popular

Facebook and Twitter did not exist

The human genome project was completed

Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as California’s governor

SARS was scaring everyone

The U.S. invasion of Iraq had just started

The Columbia shuttle broke up in the atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard

iTunes had just launched

What a difference a decade makes! It has been my privilege to write and discuss library, technology, information freedom, and education issues on this blog for a decade.

My very first post was an introduction to the site, and I am happy to see that I used the word “rawr” The site looked different back then and was run on Typepad (it’s on WordPress now). Here’s the first snapshot the Wayback Machine took of my site, in January 2004–a mere 5 days after I started the blog. I was writing multiple posts most days, and the posts were brief, only nominally longer than Tweets are today. I focused on digital information resources, reference, tech tools, hardware, software, and freedom of information and privacy. I said things then that seem a mite silly now, displaced by time and context–including that I was happy Amazon was finally turning a profit (I know, I know…I deserve a boot to the head for that one).

My blog today is very different. I write less about technology and more about bigger picture library issues, including administration and management, as that’s how I spend my days now. I write fewer, but longer, pieces. All the short posts from yesteryear have migrated to Tweets and Facebook posts now. I reserve blogging for the important, long form discussions.

I’m not writing as often, not by a long shot. My average was 61 posts per month in 2004 and in 2013 my average is 2 posts per month. Part of the reason is that I can’t write about much of what I do in my daily work now due to confidentiality, good taste, prudence, and respect. I would love to write about progressive discipline, coaching employees, facilities emergencies, presenting to City Council, dealing with other city departments, being “politic” without bullshitting anyone, banning patrons, and a host of other things that fill my days. But I can’t. Another contributing factor to the dearth of posts is that I work longer hours than I did 10 years ago and am desperately seeking a healthier work-life balance, which means not reading and writing an additional 2-3 hours a day to keep this blog populated with multiple daily posts.

Now, some numbers:

Depending on the tools you use and how you count, I have something like 40,000 blog subscribers through RSS and email.

I’ve had over 5 million page views on the site during its 10 years of existence.

My post with the most comments? 1,975 comments on “Eragon gets a script-writer,” posted on February 19, 2004. The post inexplicably turned into a weird message board of sorts for fans of the book. I had to moderate some pre-teen behavior a few times.

My post with the most traffic? “Hello, my name is Sarah and I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.” This post consistently gets 500 views a month. There was, and still is to some extent, a lack of people discussing health issues publicly online. Sure, there are private support group bulletin boards and Facebook pages, but open posts are rare. Add to that a relatively rare condition, and bam…my posts on EDS have become something many newly diagnosed people find first online. They ask for help and I happily give whatever advice and pointers I can.

What is my most controversial post? I can’t pick just one! The ones that get the most attention seem to be the ones where I’m mad about something, which has led me to believe two things: me being mad = good writing, plus people just like controversy.

Here are the top twelve posts from the last decade, based on views, comments, emails and other messages about how awful/awesome I am:

I want to give a big shout out to a few people who hugely impacted my writing and this blog. Michael Stephens and Aaron Schmidt are the ones who inspired me to write a blog in the first place. Cris Miranda needs some major props for the current site’s design (which is still frigging amazing–kitties!). And Blake Carver of LIShost has been hosting this bad boy for a long time now and doing a damn fine job of it too.

And finally, thanks to all of my readers out there, some of whom have been with me for the entire decade. Your response continues to be humbling and awe-inspiring. Here’s to another ten years!

The conversation we should be having is how much we in libraries love our communities.

We who work in, for, and around libraries know that people love and value the work we do. The loud rumblers, grumpy naysayers, and anti-all-public-service stinkpots are few and far between (though indeed they do be loud). We get validation all the time from our communities, from the small “thank you” after a reference question to a huge donation from a grateful patron. If we know that we’re essential to the community, that people love and trust us…why are we constantly expending energy to remind the people we serve of that very fact?

In thinking about this issue, I can’t get away from the image my brain conjures up of a librarian hurriedly following someone on the sidewalk shouting pronouncements like “All your neighbors love libraries!” and “You love us. Don’t forget that you love us!”

Are we truly that defensive that we feel we have to prove our worth through reminding the people we serve that they think we’re so frigging awesome that they’d better keep loving us or else risk societal shunning? This defensive posture does not serve us well. It does not prove our worth, but rather sounds like a whinging adolescent trying to convince himself that he’s cool by telling the cool kids “I’m cool – no really I am!”

And that’s the crux of the issue. I don’t think we focus on “library/librarian love” for the sake of our communities, to remind them of what we do so they’ll use us more, as an outreach or advocacy tool, or as a political move to solidify our value in the minds of stakeholders.

We do it to make ourselves feel better.

In a time of decreasing employment for MLIS-holders, reductions or (at best) stagnation of library funding, and a nearly unprecedented increase in demand and workload (my library is a good example of this), I think that some librarians and other library workers are feeling rather unappreciated and pessimistic about the future. But of course we can’t say that out loud in public, so instead we mount these library/librarian love campaigns and beg other people to validate our existence.

What bothers me most about this is that nearly everyone I’ve ever met who works in a library, no matter the position or type of library, believes wholeheartedly in what we do for a living. The way I phrase it is “We democratize information and expertise.” We all believe in that goal. We fight for it. We believe in what we do because…(wait for it)…we love our communities and want to serve them to the best of our ability.

Most library staffers I know bend over backward to serve people. We live in the communities we serve. We love our neighbors. We love information, freedom of access, education, and entertainment. We who work in libraries love them more than anyone else. But what do we love more than libraries? The communities we serve.

And that, my friends, is what we should be focusing on. We should be campaigning that “The Library Loves You”…not begging for loving scraps of endearment ourselves.

Shifting that viewpoint, changing the looking glass, is going to be my goal for the beginning of 2014. I hope you will join me.

Suzanna presented first. At Cal Poly Pomona they are using a hybrid print and digital signage library. She feels they do a good job of not over-using signage. Digital signage allows you to have multiple concepts per sign, but requires a higher level of skill and can be expensive to install or move. Principles of good signage—it should be positive and welcoming. Signage is always a work in progress and thinking about what makes sense to people. How much do your patrons really need to know? She showed a couple of photos of libraries with multiple signs all next to each other and confusing. Develop a sign policy with the purpose of digital signage, terms of use, the approval process, technical guidelines and specifications, how to develop a good sign, and copyright/licensing issues. The biggest problem is still content. It takes time to generate content (especially video content). The message needs to be visually pleasing. Tips for effective PowerPoint slides for signage – answer who/what/where/when/how but only if you have to, limit content and text, adjust for distance viewers, does each slide make sense when viewed separately? Tips for generating effective video content – get a camera editing program, and find tech savvy or tech eager staff, shoot and edit in the right format (4:3 vs. 16:9), be aware of the length of each video clip, use transitions appropriately, does each frame make sense when viewed separately? Alternative content from the web—creating a feed page, finding free APIs or feeds, determining how content should be displayed or rotated. They’re currently running videos with WMP, VBS, scripts, and task schedulers. They’re testing Apple TVs to replace the WMP process. They’re also investigating proprietary system add-ons and open source digital signage systems.

Young then presented about his library’s attempt to make legal resource orientation more engaging and interactive. His library was looking for digital signage that had interactive capabilities, could provide an orientation in an engaging fun manner, and which leverages game theory. Some of the commercial systems available are the Viewsonic 42” ePoster ($2500, built-in media player) or the 22” ePoster. Commercial system pros: turnkey, features, quality, support. Commercial system cons: proprietary, limited options, expensive. Things to keep in mind if you choose a DIY solution—content, delivery method, display method, make it easy to use and maintain, secure, reliable, inexpensive, looks good, and upgradable. Tons of options: Smart HDTVs, HDTV monitor + desktop computer/Raspberry Pi/Android mini PC, streaming devices like Roku/AppleTV/Chromecast, all in one computer+monitor, or tablets. He chose to set up an Android driven system. The Android OS (mobile) is light on resources, popular, has good management tools, and many available apps. With Android you can choose tablets, all-in-ones, or mini PCs. Performance is decent, the devices are readily available, and they’re inexpensive. AutoStart is a good app that will start an app at boot. SureLock Kiosk Lockdown secures the system and has a free version available. Dropsync lets you do a full autosync with Dropbox –keep the files all in one place and have multiple kiosks grab the updated files immediately. Other apps to look at for digital signage: Web Server Ultimate (fully functional server), SureFox Kiosk Browser, OfficeSuite 7, and Digital Photo Frame Slideshow (or Web). They’re using an HTML5 WebApp–it’ offers offline caching and updating, is content cross platform, interactive and touch-capable, you can easily reuse content on a website, and the kiosk browser app has lots of features built-in. Some caveats–Android mini PCs have weak wifi strength, some lack true 1080p capability. Design challenges include mounting and installation. For the future–no touching but swiping in the air.

Matt presented on the programs of his library, the Anythink Library in Colorado. We’re here to refine and refresh the services we bring to our communities. Increasing participatory opportunities is consistent with the changed expectations from the public. Retailers are changing their approach to bring people into brick and mortar stores – e.g. Converse offering concerts. This works for libraries and museums as well. We need to keep the different generations engaged. As much as people like socializing online, there’s been a push-back toward creating genuine in-person experience. By supporting patrons’ opportunities to express themselves and contribute dialog to the public sphere, we stay true to our values of access to information.

Instead of thinking about how they were going to build and lay out new buildings, they thought about how they would create an experience for their users. Matt recommends reading The Participatory Museum by Nina Simon. The 5 stages of engagement are a useful construct to use in examining how institutional experiences measure up. Library models of participation—Library 2.0, library as conversation, library as platform. A majority of Americans used a public library in the past year – 59% used the physical library or the library website or both.

The Digital Public Library of America is attempting to bring to life the idea of library as platform. Matt wants us to think about diversifying our participatory experiences—taking them from the digital realm and into the physical realm.

There are three categories of public participation in scientific research.

Contributory projects have community members sharing information. Example: people writing valentine’s cards about someone they love and posting them up on a wall in the library. Another example: they asked a question—Would you risk jail time to defend your favorite book (yes or no). People voted with tokens.

Collaborative projects involves community members having an influence over the outcome of the project. Example: They have an outdoor classroom, providing the space and most of the materials. The kids decide what to do with it. The library brought in goats to eat back some overgrown areas of land. This accidentally turned out to be a participatory experience as people asked the goat handlers questions.

Co-creation participation. Example: community gardens provided by the library—dirt, water, space, plot sign-ups. After that, though, the community members form teams, set policies, organize group buys and watering schedules. This met organizational goals of increasing access to healthy foods and building a sense of community. Each garden runs differently because it’s decided by the local users themselves. Another example: National Dance Day. Although initiated by a library staff member, most participants came through word of mouth. They didn’t know what the outcome would be but provided the tools.

A project intended to be contributory but that ended up being co-created. They make experience zones—small interactive exhibits (think of it as an unstaffed program). The zen garden they set up became a sandbox play space—people brought in their own beach toys. Their CompuGirls program teaches girls various technology and software skills and learn about social justice. The library provided the space and promoted it, but the CompuGirls staff designed and offered the program.

The library revamped their space to add group collaboration rooms, technology space, etc. At a branch where they don’t have space for a permanent installation of this type of space, they have “the studio” which offers teens the opportunity to participate as much as they want with the software and technology available. They had a Grammy night where teens who’d made videos, music, etc. were given awards.

For participatory services to work you need institutional commitment — budgetarily and for staff to be trained and willing to work with the community in new and different ways. At Anythink they build from day one a set of expectations that staff will be open to experimentation and their customers’ curiosity. Staff and supporters are handed a great poster that begins–“You are not just an employee, volunteer, or board member.” There is still staff reticence to new ideas. When they opened their first digital media lab staff were intimidated and afraid. At their annual Tech Fest staff development day they divided into groups based on interests and worked with mentors to produce content and showcase it at the end of the day. A spirit of play helps staff meet customer needs with a light heart. The organization also becomes more flexible. People crave experiential learning. Look at your organization’s goals and form participatory library experiences to support them. The library must be committed to increasing participation.

[Sarah’s note: No, I was not doing LSD or taking mushrooms before or during this talk, believe it or not.]

Ridley said he was here to talk about “the welcome demise of literacy.” Reading and writing are doomed. Literacy as we know it is over. Welcome to the post-literate future. He’s talking about alphabet systems and writing systems when he says “literacy.” The premise is that just as the powerful capability of literacy displaced primary orality, it is inevitable that literacy will be replaced by a more powerful tool, capacity, or capability.

He’s been on sabbatical and published an eBook-like-thing called Beyond Literacy that came out as a series of blog posts originally. He wanted U Toronto iSchool students to be co-creators of this. The irony that a discussion of the death of literacy is in a book format does not escape him. They set up a Pinterest site for the bibliography.

The literacy/writing box limits us. What is beyond that box, that tool, that could open up new ideas? The alphabet warps us and limits us. So we should get rid of it and move beyond it.

He makes a distinction between written language and spoken language. There are very few written languages. Most languages (97%) don’t have a written equivalent.

We have too much information. Our environment has lots of stuff and it’s reached a point where we can’t deal with it. We face this “too much information” problem regularly as a culture. At these iterations we develop new tools. The writing systems we have are not that good—it takes a long time to learn. It’s addictive too.

So what’s post-literacy look like? Cognitive neural implants, perhaps. To him, though, he thinks that’s hyperliteracy—it wouldn’t change the undercurrent of our literary selves. Telepathy? What if we all were telepathic, that it’s a capability we all have that’s just suppressed? Collective unconscious? If we elevate ourselves to a higher level, do we become the Borg? Could pharmacology replace writing? People have been taking drugs to understand the universe for centuries.

Technologically we are closer to creating computers that are way smarter than we are, using a concept of computing intelligence in the abstract. Machine code is going to take over.

Or maybe it’s not about us at all. We like to put ourselves at the center of history. Maybe it’s really about “that next evolution,” the next species that’s coming along. Maybe the new toolset/change is the post-human species.

Can you maintain the self in a collective unconscious or a post-human species?

We’ll go through this phase and it will take a while to get this next iteration right. We’ll have to go through this transition and that’s fine.

What about the physiology of information? This is a tremendously interesting time for neurology. Where will this science take us? The brain is a soup of proteins, neurons, synapses, redundancies, and chemicals. Connectivity is a huge piece of it. Information is stored in this soup…it’s not an alphabetic component but a biological structure.

What about cognitive pharmacology? What if we could create a drug that would grown in your mind a particular understanding or idea? Take a pill, learn French. This would be the end of learning.

Mind-melding is powerful. There’s a philosopher who has written a book on mind-melding. It’s part philosophy and part neurology. It’s achievable.

Some of his students theorized that aliens would bring us a post-literate culture.